Tennyson
Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)
I
Shakespeare and Milton--what third blazoned name
Shall lips of after-ages link to these?
His who, beside the wide encircling seas,
Was England's voice, her voice with one acclaim,
For threescore years; whose word of praise was fame,
Whose scorn gave pause to man's iniquities.
II
What strain was his in that Crimean war?
A bugle call in battle; a low breath,
Plaintive and sweet, above the fields of death!
So year by year the music rolled afar,
From Euxine wastes to flowery Kandahar,
Bearing the laurel or the cypress wreath.
III
Others shall have their little space of time,
Their proper niche and bust, then fade away
Into the darkness, poets of a day;
But thou, O builder of enduring rhyme,
Thou shalt not pass! Thy fame in every clime
On earth shall live where saxon speech has sway.
IV
Waft me this verse across the winter sea,
Through light and dark, through mist and blinding sleet,
O winter winds, and lay it at his feet;
Though the poor gift betray my poverty,
At his feet lay it: it may chance that he
Will find no gift, where reverence is, unmeet.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 113 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAAB XCCDDX EFFEAF GHHGGH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,063 |
Words | 194 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"Tennyson" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36076/tennyson>.
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